Tenant screening services run credit reports, background, and eviction checks to assess whether or not someone is financially qualified to rent an apartment. We looked at the most popular options and rising stars and decided to review Cozy, TransUnion SmartMove, and On-Site. These companies covered the range for landlords, property managers, and real estate agents in terms of pricing and features. Read on for our comparison and review of these three options, as well as our top recommendations.
For many landlords, tenant screening is just a piece of the puzzle when it comes to managing their rentals. For a complete property management solution, we recommend Rentalutions. They provide applicant screening, online lease signing, online rent payments, accounting, and more. Their property management software packages start at $0 per month.
Best Tenant Screening Service: Cozy
We chose Cozy as the best tenant screening service because they offer a report culled from data from all three credit reporting agencies, online rental applications, free ACH rent collection, property listing templates and a dedicated landlord advice resource.
Cozy vs. SmartMove vs. On-Site Comparison
| Pricing: Credit Report/ Background Check Learn More | Tenant Credit Report Only: $24.99 Tenant background check only: $24.99 Tenant credit report + background + eviction: $39.99 | Quickcheck Tenant Screening (resident score + background check): $25 Quickcheck Plus Tenant Screening(Credit report + background + eviction check): $35 | Tenant credit report + background + eviction check: $40 |
| What’s included in background check? Learn More | Employment: No Rental history: No Evictions: Yes Criminal: Yes | Employment: No Rental history: No Evictions: Yes Criminal: Yes | Employment: No Rental history: No Evictions: Yes Criminal: Yes |
| Who does credit/ background checks? Learn More | TransUnion Experian Equifax Checkr | TransUnion | TransUnion Experian Equifax |
| Online Rental Applications included? Learn More | Yes | No | Yes |
| Unique features Learn More | Property Listing Templates Online rental Applications Online ACH/ credit card rent payments/ collection Landlordology - (Help and advice section for landlords) | None | Custom generated lease with E-Sign Online rental applications |
| Sample Tenant Screening Report | Click here | N/A | Click here |
| www.Cozy.co | www.MySmartMove.com | www.On-Site.com |
Cozy
SmartMove
On-SiteBest Tenant Screening Service: Cozy
We recommend Cozy because they offer Vantagescore reports, online rental applications, free ACH and credit card rental applications, free property listing templates with “apply now” buttons, and an in-depth landlord advice section called landlordology. Perfect for newer landlords.
Backed by Google Ventures, Cozy has been making waves in the tenant screening services space since they launched in 2012. Their service is especially attractive to millennials, many of whom are wary of giving personal information to multiple landlords.
Experian VantageScore
Experian VantageScore combines data from all three credit reporting agencies, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, for one combined credit report. While reports from the three agencies are getting more and more accurate and identical, querying all three can offer more peace of mind.
Online rental applications
Cozy also offers online rental applications. Since most millennial tenants expect to be able to do everything online, an online rental application is a very useful feature for small landlords. Even better, applicants can use the same online rental application for any landlord that accepts Cozy applications.
Free ACH rent collection
Perhaps the best feature of Cozy is their free online rent collection system. Landlords can sign up and accept electronic rent payments from their tenants. The service is 100% free for landlords, and only charges tenants 2.75% per transaction for debit or credit card payments, or nothing at all for ACH transfers. Landlords can even charge one time fees for utility payments, application fees, etc.
Property Listing Templates
Cozy also offers attractive, cleanly designed property listing templates that landlords, property managers and agents can use on craigslist and other sites that allow HTML in their listings. The templates include a call to action that encourages people to apply online using Cozy.
Landlordology
Cozy also offers an in-depth landlord resource section called Landlordology. This is a great resource for new and newer landlords who are looking for quick legal, marketing, or other advice on effectively running rental properties.
The are only two real downsides to Cozy. First, they are slightly more expensive than TransUnion’s SmartMove, and second, they aren’t quite yet the household name that TransUnion is.
Best Budget Tenant Screening Service: SmartMove
Since SmartMove is owned and co-branded with credit reporting agency TransUnion they offer something that no other tenant screening service can: name recognition. This can be extremely helpful in getting new renters (or guarantors) comfortable with handing over their personal information. Many newer landlords, property managers and boutique agencies don’t yet have a brand that is known to be trustworthy. This can make getting people to apply a tricky process, especially in big cities where people are very leery of scams. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to field panicked 8:30 pm calls from guarantors looking for reassurance that we were a reputable company and not an identity theft ring. Even at a large company like ours with a ten year track record and exclusive contracts with dozens of luxury new developments, this was par for the course. For a new landlord in a small city the problem can be 10x worse.
SmartMove also comes in at $5 less than the other two services. Frankly, we think that ponying up the extra $5 for Cozy is a worthwhile investment, but if you’re paying for the checks yourself to offer an incentive to get great tenants or only need basic services, then SmartMove might be right for you.
Best Tenant Screening Service for Larger Brokerages and Property Managers: On-Site
Although the electronic signature leases On-Site offers landlords with less than 100 units are great, they pale in comparison to the extra services Cozy offers small landlords. Where On-Site shines is in providing custom solutions for large new developments, property managers, and brokerages.
What Are Tenant Screening Services?
Tenant screening services offer landlords, property managers and other real estate professionals, credit check, credit reporting, and background searches in order to assess whether a prospective renter will be a good tenant. Here’s a quick rundown on what tenant screening services do:
- Run credit checks through 1 or all 3 credit reporting agencies
A credit report will tell a landlord in detail whether or not a prospective tenant pays their bills on time, as well as assess their debt to income ratio. - Run Criminal Background Checks
In addition to providing credit reports, tenant screening services will also check state, federal, and global criminal records to determine whether or not the prospective tenant has a criminal history. Sex offender registries and terror watchlists are very often included in criminal background checks. - Check Housing Court and Eviction History
Tenant screening services will also check housing court records to see if the prospective tenant has any evictions proceedings in their rental history. - Verify employment status and previous addresses
Some very thorough tenant screening services will verify employment and previous address history.
Are Tenant Screening Services Worth Paying for?
In my experience as a real estate agent in Manhattan, yes. Tenant screening services are well worth the nominal ($40 or less) cost. In many cases, when confronted with a credit and background check, prospective tenants with bad credit or criminal records will tell you before you even run their credit. Using one of the three services we tested, you can (and should) have the prospective tenant pay the fee. If they’re good candidates, you can offer to reimburse them once they pass the screening.
In-Depth Comparison: Cozy vs SmartMove vs OnSite
Pricing
Due to increased competition in the space, the price for tenant screening services seems to have stabilized. Today, pretty much all screening companies charge somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 for a full credit report, $25 for a full background check, or around $40 for a combination credit report and background check. As market competition, the demand for tenant screening and and the digitization of public records all increase, we expect these prices to go down further in the future.
Here’s how the three tenant screening companies stacked up for pricing:
Source: Cozy Click to open in new tab
Source: SmartMove
The drawback here is that the Resident Score does not grant you access to a candidate’s full credit report. They only offer their own assessment of a candidate’s ability to pay rent on time based on their credit report. While this may be fine for some, many landlord’s working in lower income neighborhoods or neighborhoods with very high vacancy rates may want to consider applicants with poor credit depending on their reason for having poor credit.
For example, a prospective tenant may have great income and one large unpaid medical bill, or other contested debts. In cases like this, viewing the entire credit report would be necessary to make a decision.
More importantly, many landlords might want to overlook credit issues as long as the applicant has no eviction history of landlord tenant actions. For them the QuickCheck Tenant Screening simply won’t work as it doesn’t offer eviction history.
For $10 more, SmartMove offers their QuickCheck Plus Tenant Screening which includes a full credit report rather than just the Resident Score, as well an eviction report. Considering evicting your tenant can cost upwards of $10,000 and take up to six months in areas with tenant friendly housing court systems, that extra $10 should be seen as a worthwhile investment.
Source: On-Site
What’s included in a background check?
After assessing a candidate’s credit worthiness, a background check is generally the next step in vetting a prospective tenant. There are two important reasons for this: First and foremost, people with criminal histories generally don’t make very good tenants. Even if they pay their rent on time every month and don’t sell your stove on craigslist, you may find yourself legally responsible for criminal acts, including drug dealing, that occur on your property.
Eviction history is another crucial factor in vetting prospective tenants. After renting hundreds of apartments in New York City, I’ve seen it all. Including people with six figure incomes, impeccable credit and a tendency to repeatedly sue their landlords in housing court. Save yourself the potential headache and spend the few extra dollars to run a background check that includes eviction history.
Who does credit/background checks?
While the three credit reporting agencies are essentially identical these days, some owners do have a preference. Here are the credit and background check providers for the three screening services.
Online Rental Applications included?
Working as a luxury rental agent in New York City, you would be surprised to learn just how many owners of five figure rental units insisted on blurry, poorly photocopied applications filled out and signed with bics rather than iPads.
Along with the rest of the world, small landlords and property managers today are (finally) entering the 21st century and taking advantage of online rental applications and electronic signatures. Pretty soon tenants are going to be demanding rather than requesting online applications and the ability to sign them with their mobile devices.
Source: Cozy
Unique features
Considering all three services charge very similar fees for very similar services, extra features might be enough to get some landlords to make the switch. Here’s how the three companies stacked up in terms of unique features.
Source: Cozy
All Tenant Screening Services
| Screening Service | Description | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| RentScreener | Tenant screening service with online applications. | $39 |
| Tenant Alert | Tenant screening service with multiple screening options. | $19—$44 |
| Tenant Screening Report | Basic tenant screening service. | $24.95—$39.95 |
| My Rental | Corelogic’s tenant screening service that allows purchase of a la carte reports. Cheapest option. | $7.99—$34.99 |
| Lease Runner | Lease Runner offers tenant screening, online applications, listing templates, and property management software. | $3 for online rent payments $25 for digital lease $10—$35 for credit/background checks |
| TVS | Basic tenant screening service that offers al la carte purchase of reports. | $8.95 for eviction search only $33.90 for full credit report/background check |
| Rentprep | Tenant screening service that offers employment and address verification. | $18.95 basic screening $34.95 full screening with employment verification |
The Bottom Line
We chose Cozy as our number one tenant screening service because they offer the most services for small landlords, property managers and agents for a fair price.
Ajay punjabi
I am interested in hearing how long the background check actually takes. If cozy and mysmartmove.com come back in minutes- it is bogus. Definitely. I used to work for a PI firm and background checks through lexisnexis needed to be verified. A true background check takes 3-4 days.
Any experiences here?
Can somebody send me a blacked out report from cozy and tenantmagic and on-site and mysmartmove so I can see the differences?
Hey Ajay,
We have sample background checks in the article. In my experience using On Site, we generally got background checks back in a matter of minutes. That said, there are varying degrees of background checks and checks can take more or less time depending on what you’re checking. For the most part, a simple housing court check, credit check, and criminal background check will suffice. The odds of running across a prospective tenant who’s on say, the FBI most wanted list who is using their own personal information to apply is pretty remote.
Daniel Russell
Not sure how much research you’ve done into all of the tenant screening programs, but for strictly tenant screening programs, I disagree with your conclusion.
I used Cozy, which was in fact great for some things, but not the best for actual tenant screening.
Not listed on your summary of services is TenantMagic, an online tenant screening program.
What separates TenantMagic is the incredible customer service, which for tenant screening is a must have. I called a few times and spoke with the owner in seconds.
Highly recommend you add this to your list to compare it.
Seems to be lacking in features… not to mention the fact that there’s zero indication of how much it costs on their site. Great customer service is valuable, especially for a startup, but hardly the main criteria people use to purchase or use software. Thanks for sending it over though, always interesting to check out innovators.
Jay Apple
This is Jay Apple, I am co-founder of TenantMagic and would like to respond.
1) Features – TenantMagic provides online rental applications with the most comprehensive tenant screening report available (credit including a credit score, criminal and eviction, including a credit score)
Simply enter the applicant’s email address and TenantMagic does the rest.
You get the completed application with the tenant screening report within minutes after the applicant completes it.
TenantMagic is free to agents and owners – applicants pay the $35 fee
There is a description of the program on our web page and a short explainer video.
2) Pricing – We did not display pricing because we gave the agent/owner the option of charging more than our $35 fee. We then remit the difference to them with a report each month.
Lately we have been getting many comments regarding pricing and now display the basic fee on the Agent/Owner registration page.
We also offer at no charge, agents and owners with web sites the code for an “Apply Here” button. This allows applicants to start an application 24/7 when visiting the web site.
TenantMagic now has registered users in 47 states
I am always available to our users to discuss new features that can make our site easier to use. I can be reached directly at 216.
Hey Jay,
Thanks for stopping buy and appreciate the heads up about your service. Best of luck.
PJ Allen
Hello Jay,
May I inquire should a landlord opt to charge more for the application process, how specifically is the difference remitted to them?
Also, is there a way the landlord can ‘test’ or see the application prior to sending it to perspective tenants simply to be familiar with what they will be receiving?
Lastly, is there an option to provide a copy of the report that landlords receive to the perspective tenant should they request one?
Thanks for your time, attention, & information.
Jay Apple
PJ –
1) We send a check to those landlords/agent that charge more than the standard fee with a report of the applicants that paid each month.
2) Landlords can go through the process themselves up to the payment part to get the applicant experience. We can also send a copy of the application upon request.
3) The applicants are paying an application fee not for their report so they do not get a copy. If they are declined, the program allows the owner the send an adverse action letter which is required by Fair Credit when using a credit report for a business decision. The adverse action letter tells the declined applicant the reason for the decline and to contact the credit bureau if they feel the information that led to the decline was in error.
Ajay punjabi
Does anybody here work for TenantMagic or Cozy or for that matter mysmartmove.com?
Hey Ajay,
We confirmed these times with each service, but if you’d like to get a more thorough idea of how long checks will take and exactly what they include give each company a call. I’m sure they would be happy to answer your questions.
Jay Apple
As I indicated in my responses, I am the co-founder of TenantMagic.
Sharon
I have had a Very bad experience with a Liscenced Indiana Broker, last 2015-2016. The tenants were her friends?And consequently they did over 10,000 $ in damage to my home, stole my washer and dryer, riding lawn mower, microwave, damaged my cook stove, stole many items in the house and left my home filthy…requiring major cleaning. I was cheated out of my rent, left with 169.00 sewage bill and well. To say the least a major mess. The broker even allowed the tenants to put in an above ground pool, opened a day care, damaged my yard. Never mowed my yard and I had to pay to get the yard back under control. This and then my judge ment in court was only 1500. Because the Broker did not put the case in my name…but Clemmons Property, LLC. A collection company is still trying to get my money. Then I have tried to hire a lawyer but because of low return, no takers.
Hey Sharon,
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with your tenants. This is why tenant screening is so important.
Dave
Do you have a sample of the On-Site online application? My tenants don’t seem to fall into the “millennial” group, so I’d like to see what the alternate option there is.
Hey Dave,
I actually don’t have a screenshot of On-Site’s online application. I’m sure they can provide you one if you reach out though.
Patty
At the beginning of this article it states that Cozy culls data from all three credit reporting agencies but near the end of the article it states they use Experian. Am I missing something here or is this as inaccurate as it appears?
Hey Patty,
Cozy uses VantageScore, which is indeed an Experian product, but culls data from all three reporting agencies. Sorry if that wasn’t clear int the article!
https://www.experian.com/products/vantagescore.html